Last Tissue Expansion Before Surgery

 (From the front)

 (From the back)

(From the side.  Yeah, it's that big.)

Last night was my last tissue expansion in my fifth expander prior to my 38th surgery, which is next Friday.  And we went for it.  Since our visit to the doctor in January we were putting in 100 cc's of solution but last night we put in 20 extra cc's to really get this thing stretched so there will hopefully be enough skin to get what needs to be done, done.  My last expanders, which were in my shoulder blades, only had enough skin to make it halfway around my neck, which is where the scar line is and where the contractures formed to cause this current problem.  My left side has done well with z-plasty's.  But my right side has been a nightmare so thus the current tissue expander - tissue expander #5.  I have been in a great deal of pain and very uncomfortable since last night.  So uncomfortable that I have been awake since 3:30am this morning because I just couldn't get comfortable and I needed to relieve the pain with some pain meds and a hot rice bag.